Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Shawnee National Forest etc.

I’m getting behind.

It’s the land around here that intrigues and sometimes unnerves me. So much farmland. No matter which direction you go, you will drive forever around and through fields of corn or wheat or soybeans. So much growing going on you can almost feel the energy of it. Occasionally I come across fallow land and feel somehow rested by it ...

I never realized Illinois was like this. I knew that when you got west of the Mississippi endless land and sky opened up. Illinois is not endless land and sky, it is farmland. Big Farmland. I’ve heard that the land is rich because of minerals deposited from glaciers during the Glacial Age.

It is summer here now, but not blazing and uncomfortably hot. At least not now. It is curious to find yourself in a place you never had any idea that you would be, and start looking around. Over the weekend we went further south to the Shawnee National Forest. There are a lot of hiking trails, including the River-to-River Trail (Ohio River to the Mississippi River). Supposedly the Indians were pushed westward over this trail.

We hiked the Bell Smith Spring Trail. Jubilee had a few swims in the clear cool spring water, but we did get lost and had to find our way back to the sounds of a bunch of young people whooping it up. This is me coming down the Devil's Backbone.

A really nice young man gave us a ride in his pickup back to where we had parked our car. I am curious about the flag on the back of his truck. Anybody know what it is?

He directed us toward another hike, Millstone Bluff, the site of a pre-historic Indian settlement.

It was a good day of hiking, but we decided it was too far to drive just to hike. We all three came home with ticks, chiggers, and fleas.